Cowboys' Micah Parsons defends opposing quarterbacks against 'online bullies'

Dallas Cowboys edge rush Micah Parsons is usually making life miserable for opposing quarterbacks when he is chasing them down on the field. 

But off the field he has been coming to the defense of two of the most harshly criticized quarterbacks in the NFL -- New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson and New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones.

Parsons has been using his social media accounts to defend Jones and Wilson from criticism over the past week, and addressed why he is doing so this week in his weekly media availability. 

"I just feel like so many times the media just always puts those negative things on certain players. "I just think it's almost like bullying online. We're just being social media bullies. You really hate to see that. It's one thing if you say I'm garbage to my face on the field and we're competing and we're hammering out and we're in the moment. But, it's another thing when a guy can't defend themselves. You don't know what's going on in his [locker] room. You don't know what's going on in the team, and you're just out there calling another man garbage on live TV. We see that in the draft where guys use these moments where this should be a special moment for a kid and bash him for his past.
 "I just feel like as humans and as people who have these platforms, we should just be better and more mindful of how we talk about people and how those things can impact someone. You never know what someone's journey is. You never know what their story is. So I'm just calling out the social media bullies because we really shouldn't be like that."

That all came after NBC's Rodney Harrison had attempted to get Kansas City's Chris Jones to say disparaging things about Wilson's ability following their Sunday night game. Harrison tried to egg Jones on by calling Wilson trash, but Jones refused to take the bait and talked about Wilson's ability and how the Chiefs knew it was going to be a challenging game. 

The next night, Jones was the focal point of criticism after he and the Giants offense again struggled inan ugly loss to the Seattle Seahawks. 

The NFL is a quarterback driven league and there is always going to be pressure on those players to stand out and carry their teams. That is especially true in markets where media pressure gets turned up to insane levels. Quarterbacks also have almost no margin for error anymore and are expected to become immediate stars when they enter the NFL. If they are not, they are almost immediately cast aside and given up on.

While criticism and scrutiny has become much louder in the 24/7 news cycle and with the advancement of social media, it is also pretty clear that players -- even players on opposing teams -- have a great deal of respect for one another and how hard it is to make it in the NFL. The recent actions of Jones and Parsons really illustrate that.